Downtown Dispatches: 'Student village' eyed just west of downtown

Updated 10:58 pm, Friday, November 23, 2012

The key to shaking up downtown is to infuse it with young urban dwellers, city leaders have said repeatedly.

They don't get any younger than college kids.

A “student village” on the western edge of downtown — two developments totaling 388 to 550 units — could capture some of the growing population at key area campuses over the next 10 years, a city-commissioned report by national consultants Keyser Marston Associates concludes.

The area is ideal for several reasons.

UTSA's downtown campus, with a student population of nearly 7,000, plays a major role in the area, and yet offers no student housing.

“We don't envision the city building student housing,” Houston said. “We envision the city facilitating the building of student housing in this area.”

The city's next step is to share the report's findings with area colleges. Eventually, the goal is to find land and a developer willing to build the housing, but that's farther down the road, Houston said.

Keyser Marston recommends two projects to capture some of this projected growth, with an emphasis on catering to college students, but not necessarily limited to that demographic. Young professionals, health care workers — anybody — could live there, too.

The first development is envisioned as three to four stories and costing $17 million, according to the report. The second would be four to five stories, costing $33.4 million.

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A student survey at UTSA downtown showed 85 percent of students want to live close to campus and, of that number, 69 percent would prefer to live within six blocks.

San Antonio College, although close to downtown, was not considered as a contributor to the student housing demand because most of its students live at home and only attend classes for a short period of time.

The Southwest School of Art also wasn't listed as a possible feeder for the development only because its enrollment is still small — its bachelor degree program is scheduled to launch in fall 2013.

The city funded the study to gauge interest among potential developers. The City Council also approved the Center City Housing Incentive Policy in June as a tool the city can use to lure developers.

To download the report, visit the Downtown Blog; @mysa_downtown on Twitter; and Downtown San Antonio on Facebook. Send email to bolivo@mysanantonio.com